Share the Fruit: Khadija Heeger – Citizen Minus

I first saw poet Khadija Heeger perform at the Speak the Mind Poetry Festival at Artscape in 2008 and I was completely blown away. In early 2014 we shared the same stage at the first InZync Poetry Session of the year and I was again nearly brought to tears. Then last year I had the opportunity to perform with her at the Connect ZA‘s Tongue Fu Session, a kind of live experiment where a backing band (I played bass) would accompany a group of poets in a completely impromptu format with no prior rehearsal.

Khadija has this amazing way of stating hard truths explicitly without holding anything back, while all the while ringing an emotional bell that leaves you reeling for hours…even days after. If I had to single out my favourite local poet, it would be Khadija. Here’s a video of her performing Citizen Minus at a recent InZync Poetry Session: